(This article first appeared on Advertising Age's GOOD WORKS blog.)

If you look at studies about Millennials' penchant for service or society's growing fascination with all things green, it's not surprising that businesses are thinking more and more about how they can increase awareness for social causes as they increase their margins. Earlier this year, Pepsi decided to forego its million-dollar Super Bowl spot in favor of an enormous social media campaign focused on investing in communities and giving back.

Cause marketing isn't new to YouTube -- businesses such as Starbucks and Timberland have been churning out videos on behalf of causes for years, through contests, viral marketing spots and disaster relief pleas. But some are doing it better than others. Here's a look at five videos companies should watch before launching a corporate social responsibility campaign on YouTube:

1. Help the Honey Bees, Haagen-Dazs

This video had YouTube buzzing in 2008. Capitalizing on the popular B-boy/dance battle trend on YouTube, the video mixed impressive dance moves with a catchy beat and kept the audience's attention until the end--when it revealed that it was a video to raise awareness about Colony Collapse Disorder and the widespread disappearance of bees from our environment.



2. The Girl Effect, Nike Foundation

Nike is known for its creative advertising, so it's no surprise that the Nike Foundation's Girl Effect video found an immediate audience on YouTube. It is often said that the most successful corporate cause marketing initiatives help boost a company's bottom line as well as support an important cause. Nike captures women's attention and succeeds on both fronts with this catchy animated short.



3. One Day Without Shoes, TOMS Shoes

With its "One Day Without Shoes" video campaign, TOMS Shoes reinforced a valuable YouTube message: Empower others to become your video advocates. TOMS asked YouTube users to create their own original videos endorsing the campaign (and promoting the TOMS brand by default), and received numerous pieces, including this one from user Rashnu; one from the Jonas Brothers; and this vlog from one of YouTube's most popular users, Mitchell Davis.



4. The Cove PSA: My Friend Is..., Participant Productions

If you're a production company that has just released a documentary about an important cause, you're probably thinking about how to fill those theater seats. Participant Productions cleverly decided to use its connections to create this funny YouTube trailer starring such Hollywood heavyweights as Jennifer Aniston and Ben Stiller. The video seeks to help prevent the fishing of dolphins while getting people excited about the main documentary event.



5. How to Clean Ovens, Seventh Generation

Seventh Generation is a cleaning brand that has built its business on its environmental reputation. But you may not know that the company is also a huge supporter of WAGES, Women's Action to Gain Economic Security. This how-to video series from Seventh Generation stars members of the WAGES community and shows the company's willingness to put the people and ideas it supports front and center.

Posted by Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits Manager

Today we’re excited to announce the launch of the YouTube Partner Communication Hub: the go-to spot for news on the latest features, updates, and events for partners globally. In addition to surfacing the latest and greatest in YouTube happenings, the Hub also provides an easy way to access our various Help resources.

You can visit the Hub here: https://sites.google.com/site/ytpartnercommunications

(don’t forget to bookmark it!)

The Hub is a place to:

• Connect with other partners in our Partner Help Forum
• Connect to our Partner Help Center
• Review YouTube's current site issues
• View the partner support team's most recent YouTube video
• Receive site updates and announcements
• Keep up-to-date with YouTube blogs
• Get optimization tips

We encourage you to visit the Hub bi-weekly for updates. You can also receive automatic updates via RSS feed by subscribing to the feed below. You can add it using Google Reader:

https://sites.google.com/site/ytpartnercommunications/Announcements/posts.xml

Mahin Ibrahim, YouTube Partnerships, recently watched the “LittleDog Robot”

As YouTube has evolved, marketers have changed the way they think about online advertising, especially around video and user engagement. Now more than ever, major brand advertisers are using YouTube as the hub for larger, integrated display campaigns that run across the web. Case in point: Coca-Cola -- the world’s #1 brand, according to Interbrand -- recently launched the “Longest Celebration,” a user video competition on YouTube, and the center of its online advertising campaign for the World Cup. Inspired by Cameroonian soccer star Roger Milla’s goal-celebration dance from the 1990 World Cup, Coca-Cola has invited users around the world to submit videos of their own dances to Coke’s brand channel, youtube.com/cocacola. As part of its campaign, Coca-Cola will run display ads across the Google Content Network, and point viewers to their YouTube channel in their television commercials.

In the latest interview in our Five Questions series, we spoke with Prinz Pinakatt, Interactive Digital Consumer Marketing Manager at Coca-Cola, about the World Cup, user uploads of famous Coke ads, and using YouTube to reach an international audience.

1. Why did Coca-Cola decide to make YouTube the center of its online advertising campaign for the World Cup?
We were looking for a global platform that people use to upload, enjoy and most importantly share engaging and entertaining video content.

2. The "Longest Celebration" competition is all about engaging the YouTube community to create videos for Coca-Cola. How did you come up with the idea for this campaign, and what inspired you to make user-generated content its focal point?
A spontaneous goal celebration is a very emotional and uplifting experience to have and to watch -- and it perfectly represents what Coca-Cola stands for. So, we translated the combination of goal celebrations and Coca-Cola in the context of this very special FIFA World Cup in Africa into an invitation to football fans all around to world to join one big celebration -- the "Longest Celebration.” And since the majority of the world is on YouTube it was the obvious choice.


3. Coca-Cola is a global brand, and the World Cup is a truly global event. Is there an international element to your campaign? How does Coca-Cola use YouTube to reach an international audience?
We have made the channel available in more than a 100 countries using their local languages. That itself shows how global this campaign is. To reach the YouTube audience itself we developed targeted Promoted Video campaigns as well as very impactful banner ads.

4. Many advertisers and content owners block user uploaded versions of their videos, but Coke consistently leaves them up -- from recent commercials to classics like "Mean Joe Green." What value does Coca-Cola see in allowing user uploads of their content on YouTube?
We believe that a user creating his personal version of one our ads shows the quality and the emotional engagement it created. In fact it's earned media as the user will distribute his personal creation.

5. Coca-Cola has been around for over 100 years. How has the company's approach to advertising changed over time, what’s been consistent, and how does YouTube fit into it today?
The question we always ask ourselves is how do we make sure that we communicate with our target audience in a meaningful (addressing the Zeitgeist), engaging (providing relevant content and messages) and contemporary (using the best tools) way. Today part of the answer is clearly YouTube given the role it plays in people's lives.

Posted by Dick Soule, Team Manager, Global Accounts, YouTube

Video has always been a unique storytelling tool, especially useful when reporting the news. From raw, citizen-reported videos from the streets of Tehran, to student documentaries highlighting under-reported issues in local communities, or investigative reporting done by professional news outlets, just about every type of news video can now be found on YouTube. Video is also tightly integrated into the Google News experience, providing users different ways to consume and enjoy news, while giving news publishers the opportunity to reach a greater and more diverse audience.

We are working to make it easier to get your video content indexed in Google News, but ensuring it’s found in a timely fashion is another matter. So we thought we’d share six best practices for how news publishers can increase the discoverability of their news videos.

1. Timely uploads
Videos should be uploaded as quickly as possible -- this will help them reach the news homepage faster and be grouped with the most recent articles.

2. One story per video
Instead of having one video that contains multiple segments covering several different stories of the day, it's a better user experience (and easier for us to index), when there is one story per video, and the video title is specific (not something generic like “Breaking News”). At the very least, the description of the video should match the first story in the video.

3. Categorization
If you are providing general news coverage, select YouTube category “News & Politics” (which is youtube_category_id 25) when uploading your video. If you have multiple channels, clearly identify each category (politics, business, entertainment, sports, etc.).

4. More detailed descriptions
Similar to the first paragraph of a news article, descriptions of the news video should convey the who, what, when, where, and why of the story in a few sentences -- the more detail you can supply, the better.

5. Rich tags
Another way to convey the content of the video is using the keyword tags. Providing keywords that might not be in the description gives us more knowledge of what the video is about. Especially helpful are proper nouns: the names of the people, places, companies, etc. mentioned in the video.

6. Make it Embeddable
Be sure your video is embeddable on other sites since this is currently a technical requirement for being displayed in Google News. Additionally, if your videos are geo-blocked in certain regions, they will not appear in Google News.

If your news organization isn’t already making its video content available on YouTube and Google News, we encourage you to get started. More information on how to submit your news videos to Google News can also be found in the News Publishers Help Center, and you can watch this video for additional tips on news search engine optimization.

Posted by Benoit Lafortune, Sr. Strategist Google News, and Olivia Ma, YouTube News Manager

We kicked off our YouTube Partner Meet-up roadshow last week in the Windy City. Over 50 local YouTube partners, with channels ranging from vachef's how-to Indian cooking demos to TheSingingNerd's acoustic guitar originals, came to our Google Chicago office for the event. They had a chance to network with fellow Chicago-area YouTube partners, learn about partner best practices, and participate in a Q&A with the YouTube team.

We want to give a big thank you to all of the partners who were able to join us. This summer we will be holding similar events in New York City (Wednesday, June 2nd) and Los Angeles (first week of July). We are looking forward to meeting all of the people who are defining YouTube with their innovative and original content.

For those who were unable to attend, here are some key take-aways from the Meet-up:

1. Leverage relationships with other partners to promote your channel and grow your subscription base. Reach out to partners in your area and get creative.
2. Optimize! Use the description, tags, title, and annotation your video watch pages.
3. Continue creating fresh, original content...the subscribers will come.

We had a lot of questions from partners, which we think you might find useful:

How can I see my revenue share?
Revenue share and other technical specifics are all located in your contract which was sent to you via email when you joined the YouTube Partner Program.

What is paid placement? Where should I disclose it?
Paid product placements are content that is created specifically for a sponsor and where that sponsor's brand, message, or product is integrated directly into the content. For example, if your video highlights a new piece of clothing that you received from a sponsor, you should disclose this when uploading your video under the Advertising Options section, Edit Video Settings.

What’s the process for being a Featured Video or Spotlight Video?
Our team is constantly looking for fresh content that users will like. That said, Featured Videos and Spotlight Videos are a great way to be promoted on YouTube. As partners, you are automatically eligible for slotting into these promoted positions; however, there is no way to sign-up for these spaces.

How is the YouTube Rentals program going? What happened to the download beta?
The downloads feature is no longer available. However, we have launched the YouTube Rentals beta, which is open to all partners. Learn more about the YouTube Rentals beta here.

Is it possible to upload a higher quality source file for videos already on my channel?
At present, it is not possible to make any changes to existing video uploads, even if that means enhancing the quality. You can re-upload the video, but this will be treated as a new video and all views, comments, historic quality, etc. will be lost.

Can I reformat my videos from 4:3 to 16:9?
Again, it is not possible to reformat videos at this time.

Is it possible for YouTube partners to get more human support?
We are always making efforts to better support our users. Although we cannot provide all of the phone calls and face-to-face meetings that we would like, we will continue to do the best we can to support you with our resources.

Can partners have priority when submitting additional channels for partnership?
We review partner applications in the order that they are received. Please be patient and plan ahead - we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

Can partners have priority in the DCMA claims process?
We don’t prioritize the DCMA process, specifically filing a counter-notification. It is the same for all YouTube users and partners.

Am I able to add a 10-second clip at the beginning/end of my video?
It is not possible to add pre or post-roll clips to your videos. Similarly, it is against policy to burn pre-rolls into your videos - more information here.

Posted by Austin Lau, Strategic Partnerships

Five years ago, after months of late nights, testing and preparation, YouTube’s founders launched the first beta version of YouTube.com in May, with a simple mission: give anyone a place to easily upload their videos and share them with the world. Whether you were an aspiring filmmaker, a politician, a proud parent, or someone who just wanted to connect with something bigger, YouTube became the place where you could broadcast yourself.



Over time, these aspirations have created a vibrant and inspiring community that helped transform a murmur of interest into something far greater than any of us ever could have imagined. Today, thanks to you, our site has crossed another milestone: YouTube exceeds over two billion views a day. That’s nearly double the prime-time audience of all three major U.S. television networks combined.



What started as a site for bedroom vloggers and viral videos has evolved into a global platform that supports HD and 3D, broadcasts entire sports seasons live to 200+ countries. We bring feature films from Hollywood studios and independent filmmakers to far-flung audiences. Activists document social unrest seeking to transform societies, and leading civic and political figures stream interviews to the world.







To celebrate our birthday, today we’re launching the YouTube Five Year channel. There, you’ll find the “My YouTube Story” project which features people from all over describing how YouTube has changed or shaped their lives.







Please add your own story to the mix! You can upload your video here -- and it may be selected to appear on the channel’s video wall or map.



The channel also hosts an interactive timeline containing some of the most important moments and memes in our short history. It was tough to pick -- and just scratches the surface of all the amazing things that have happened on YouTube over the years. What else? We’ve asked a handful of luminaries like Conan O’Brien, Vint Cerf and Katie Couric to curate playlists showcasing their favorite videos on the subjects they know best. You can also check out our Infographic here; it contains lots of neat facts and figures.



Since we never could have predicted all that happened in YouTube’s first five years, we certainly can’t imagine what the future will look like. But we do know there’s a lot more to be done. For instance, we want to make it even easier for you to sort through and find the videos that matter to you. Although the average user spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube, that’s tiny compared to the five hours a day people spend watching TV. Clearly, we need to give you more reason to watch more videos! And we want to give you all the tools and support to make YouTube both your career and your community. After all, this is only the beginning of the video revolution. We’re just getting started.

The YouTube Team

Advertisers large and small have had great success targeting their ads to relevant videos on YouTube, which is why we have been developing tools that give advertisers even more control over exactly where their ads appear on the site and who sees them.

For example, we previously highlighted on this blog a campaign American Apparel ran on YouTube in which they targeted pet videos -- including one of the the most famous videos on the site. Part of the secret of American Apparel’s success was their use of Video Targeting, a tool that helps advertisers find and target relevant partner videos on YouTube. As with other products we’ve recently launched, the Video Targeting Tool is integrated with Google AdWords and makes it easier than ever for advertisers and agencies to run integrated, targeted, and measurable campaigns across the Web. Here’s how it works:

With so many new advertisers now using the Video Targeting Tool, we rolled out some big improvements, including localized versions in 25 countries around the world. There are also a lot of new features to explore, so we decided to host a webinar that will give you an overview of the tool’s functionality, as well as best practices and case studies.

The webinar is scheduled for 10am PDT on May 19th, 2010. To register for the event, please visit our signup page.

Peter Sherman, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched the “Toyota Swagger Wagon”

We're thinking about Spotlight Videos (if you don't see this module on your homepage, add it here!) for the month of May. Spotlights run a few times per week and showcase interesting and timely videos from our community and partners, all organized around an event or theme. Tag any appropriate and relevant video with the tags below to be considered for these spotlights. Please note that themes and dates are subject to change and spotlights may be added or dropped without notice.

5/7 - ROFLCon: Did you go to this conference on Internet memes? We'd like to feature funny highlights and YouTube-relevant clips (tag: ytroflcon).
5/9 - Mother's Day: We're looking for videos about moms or for a notable mom to curate (tag: ytmoms).
5/22 - Pacman turns 30: On the occasion of the lil yellow guy's anniversary, we're looking for videos that pay homage to this classic game in creative ways (tag: ytpacman).

If you're interested in being a curator or have ideas for a theme we haven't mentioned, please email mia@youtube.com. Thanks!

Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Editorial/Community, recently watched "Cupcake Canon."